Students Islamic Movement of India

The Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist organization in India which was founded by Mohammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi in April 1977. The group had the goal of liberating India from Western materialistic cultural influence and to have Indians live by the Muslim code of conduct, and it was initially affiliated with Jamaat-e-Islami Hind before breaking with JIH over its opposition to Yasser Arafat, whom JIH viewed as a champion of the Palestinian cause, while SIMI saw him as a Western puppet. SIMI saw secularism, democracy, and nationalism as antithetical to Islam and opposed the moral degeneration, sexual anarchy, and Westernization of India, seeking to restore the supremacy of Islam through the creation of a caliphate and the waging of jihad. The group became more militant and extremist during the communal violence between Hindu and Muslim groups during the 1980s and 1990s, and it was banned following the 9/11 attacks on 11 September 2001. Younger members of SIMI formed a militant wing of the organization, the Indian Mujahideen.